meet shadow

This is Shadow. I can't remember his name in Pashto, but shadow is their word for monkey. He is a cute little guy, who eats all kinds of stuff, and stands about 3 feet tall when he stands up straight. We don't get to near him as he is just a little aggressive when we have all of our gear on. Shadow is at one of our ANP stations and we discovered him when we were there the other day. Our ANP said he just showed up or got dropped off or something. That part kinda got lost in translation. Anyway, Shadow is cool to just watch play in his little tree they keep him tied to. He drinks out of water bottles and like I said he eats all kinds of stuff. The police mostly feed him fruit so as not to make him sick. They told us that he is about 1 or 1 1/2 years old, and will probably double in size. I hope that they keep him. It will be fun to watch him grow up and try to tame him down a little bit. Maybe I can talk to some of my SF friends and get them to vaccinate him. That would be pretty cool, but we are not allowed pets or mascots on our camp, so I will try to convince the ANP to keep him at the station for us. Things are good here other then that. We are supposed to be getting in like 1400 pounds of mail today. That is really exciting because it has been a while since we got any. Only about one more month of heat left, so that is a good thing. Some days it is not to bad, but then there are days where the heat just sucks the energy right out of you. And then throw some humidity on top of that and it is just crappy in all of our gear. But we stay hydrated and get a little break in the AC when we can, so we make do. I will keep you all posted on Shadow, if he is still at the station. Thanks for all the support and packages. My soldiers and I greatly appreciate it. More to come from the SWA (south west Asia). SSG Miller

cool breeze in a chopper

Well, the other day I got to go for a little ride in a blackhawk. It was a nice change of pace from my truck. It also provided a nice 'big picture' prospective of my areas that I work in. Here are a couple of nice pictures of some of the area that we flew over. As you can see, even in the heat of summer, there are still some nice green area that get water. It was a very beautiful flight, as we passed over all kinds of terrain from valleys, to desert plains, to mountains. I saw some very remote villages, only accessible by foot. It is amazing that people still live like this. It is quite the eye opener from malls, Internet, cell phones, and instant everything in the states. There are people here who still use donkeys as transportation, dig wells for water, and grow everything the eat. They also build their own houses out of a mud rock mix, which is quite strong. Anyway, while i was up in the chopper, I could not help but think about skydiving again. Just something about it that hooks you. Maybe its the feeling of racing towards earth at over 100mph with just a piece of nylon on your back to keep you safe. Well, I gotta go for now. Always busy here, but I will post another entry very soon and show off a new friend at one of the stations. Russ.

cooled of today..

Well, the temps here have cooled off in the past few days. It has gone from a warm 117 degrees to a nice 102. Yeah I know that doesn't sound like much, but when we are wearing all that gear, a few degrees makes a big difference. I would say that 95 percent of the time when I come back from missions, I am pretty soaked with sweat. From my head to my boots and even through my vest onto my truck seat. It is basically like sitting in a sauna with some winter clothes on and only a small fan blowing slightly cool air onto your face. Please don't try that one though, as we are trained and have become acclimatized to it somewhat. I will be thankful for winter, but will probably complain about the cold as well. Oh well, that's the life of a soldier. Well, now to explain the pictures. On the left, you will see some of my soldiers refreshing their skills at map reading and land-nav. I gotta keep them fresh and prepare them for future positions as leaders. It is a perishable skill if you don't use it. On the right, is a shot of me that my medic took when we were driving. Yes, I do have less space then it looks like up there. Not like riding in a nice SUV or my T&C. We do have some headsets that make communication much easier between us in the truck and on the radio as well. I no longer have to scream at my gunner in the turret or at my driver over all the radios and such. It makes our situational awareness much greater as a team. It also helps me control my squad better as we maneuver around our patrol areas. The locals tell us that it will start to cool off right after Ramadan, which is in September. So it will cool off here around the time I am supposed to come home on R&R. Oh, on that note, I will get a whole 18 days as opposed to 14. The DOD has extended the leave dates for us. That is a good thing for us. Well keep the mail and packages coming. Big items to send right now are Cheetos, and crackers. They are easy to snack on and keep our salt levels up after drinking so much water. Also, any snack items are always a big hit. We are not to picky. Thanks for the support and my love and thanks to everyone. SSG Miller.

Summer time fun...

Well, here are some more photos for you all to enjoy. The top one is of us out at one of our ANP stations. I was talking with one of the officers in charge. They are pretty good guys and work hard most of the time. They deal with the same issues as we do, lack of supplies and never enough pay for the job. But they understand that they are doing good things for their country and it can be a rewarding job. The photo with the flag is from when I flew one for my son. I flew a flag for both of my kids, each on their birthdays. I will make each of them a nice certificates for the flag saying when it was flown and where. I figure they will like that when they are older. The last photo is from the other day when we had a sports day. We played flicker ball. It is like a cross between football, tag, soccer, and keep away. You have 2 teams of equal players, and a football or frisbee, and you pass it around to your team. If you catch it you have only 3 steps to move and then you must throw it. If the pass is dropped or not completed, it is an automatic turn over. It is a fast paced game and lots of fun. It is more challenging with a frisbee because it takes skill to throw it and catch it.

It is still hot here, and will remain so through August. It has been around 117-123 degrees here as the highs. We have been playing a lot of volleyball as well. I have been teaching my guys the basics of the game to help improve their skills. It is fun but we are always picking rocks out of the sand. We need to get some rakes to help smooth out the court. Well, I can't complain too much, we are in Afghanistan. Well have fun a thanks for all the care packages and support. Russ.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!

Well I don't know if we will have any fireworks here, but we are having a BBQ and I finally got to set up my pool my brother sent me for my birthday. It was so nice and me and my team leaders had a little NCO time away from the soldiers. The water wasn't cold, but it was very refreshing and for an hour or so it felt like we were at home or something. It is only 30 inches deep, but that is great for here as it makes it less of a hassle. I did catch a small sunburn on my forehead, but it was well worth it. We spent the day playing sports, (my team took 1st in volleyball), and just kind of relaxing and such. I hope everyone back home has a safe and happy 4th. I just imagine being home with family and friends, having a BBQ, maybe go swimming, and just relaxing. Of course a nice cold beer would be great, but we have neer-beer here. It isn't too bad, but at least it is cold. Things are good here, and it is really getting hotter. It is supposed to be around 117 degrees here today. Not bad. That is why we the sports at 0615 this morning. The people in the pool with me are 2 of my team leaders. We sat in there for almost 2 hours and we turned into prunes. I know word travels fast here because by the time we got out, we had some people saying things like I heard you all have a pool here and such. It is funny how you can hide a pool on a small camp in plain sight. They are probably just jealous, but if they asked I would let them in. Well, I am getting ready to eat, so take care for now and I will get more up here as soon as I can. Russ.